Ideas to make city centre 'vibrant and welcoming'

Peterborough City Council suggested using social media to attract street performers

Themed markets, street entertainment and planters are some of the options a council is looking at to entice people into the heart of a city.

Peterborough City Council said it wanted the city centre to be "vibrant, welcoming, clean and safe" for people to visit.

It said redesigning the space and holding more events would boost footfall and economic growth.

Councillors will discuss the proposals, which also include an audit of all the city's street furniture, at a meeting on Wednesday.

A report published ahead of the meeting said: "Our city centre needs to be a vibrant, welcoming, clean and safe place people want to visit without the fear or perceived fear of crime."

It said work was already under way to tackle crime in the city centre, such as by increasing police patrols and installing more CCTV.

In the next six months, the council plans an audit of all street furniture including cleaning and repairing it, if needed.

It will also investigate whether to create a new busking code for the city centre, and advertise the city to "quality buskers" and street performers using social media.

The plan is also to bring more themed and permanent markets to the centre, and attract street traders to "identified spaces".

There are already efforts to boost the heart of the city, with Peterborough having its own "city centre ambassador" who engages with businesses, reports any concerns and identifies areas that need tidying up.

Councillors will review the suggestions at the meeting.